Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

Beliar stood there with eyes wide open, staring at the dark-purple ring.

The massive, hundred-meter-tall stone ring suddenly stood up straight as swirls of energy gathered inside it. It was powering up!

With a low hum, the ring shook and a transparent, spherical barrier of the same color expanded outward from its center. Beliar who was close to it was pushed aside as the barrier expanded rapidly to a diameter of twenty-five kilometers.

Shortly after stabilizing, the ring shook once more and the space inside it warped, greedily devouring the energy around it.

"You bastard! Stealing our Qi to power yourself, how dare you?!" Beliar bellowed. Not only did this thing rudely push him away, but it was now also using Qi of their world to power itself.

He blasted forward towards the barrier and punched.

The boom was deafening!

The resulting explosion from the collision was great as the chaotic energies of both sides swirled and dispersed, however, the barrier remained unaffected.

"Hmph! It's strong…" He took out a black greatsword with spikes protruding out from its sharp edges. As he poured his energy into the weapon, the sword shone a dark light. Whenever the darkness touched, the light was devoured.

"Hah! Take this! My Claw of Darkness!" Beliar swung his greatsword, producing dangerous lightning from the immense energy in his swing. The sky turned dark as his power was released, and the wind howled while moving out of the way.

The sword struck the barrier and shook it slightly, making the whole barrier ring like a bell and produce thunder-like sounds.

Suddenly, the purple ring shone with a blinding light, and a wavy membrane formed within. It was moving and waving, like ripples on a lake. Then suddenly, soundlessly, like an assassin in the night, a hand came out of the purple membrane, then a face, followed by the entire head.

A skin of ash-gray, with a peculiar human-like face, and black horns curling backward, a being stepped out. Two and a half meters tall, with wings like those of a bat on his back, and a tail of a lizard, the Demon stood straight.

It looked around the new environment inside the barrier with its amber eyes and then proceeded to jump up and fly around the place as it examined it calmly. It suddenly noticed Beliar looking at it from the outside and reacted by making a mocking expression.

Enraged, Beliar started an even more intense barrage of attacks but they turned out to be futile. More than a thousand attacks rained on the purple barrier, but all of that only resulted in a slight tremble.

"Cursed Demon! Get out here and fight me!" The High Elf roared.

However, the Demon simply laughed at him and turned around, floating freely above the newly-formed portal. Soon another being came through, another Demon, this one even bigger and stronger looking than the last. Then there was another, this one looking like a female, who appeared just as excited and bloodthirsty.

They were not all there was, of course, far from it. A sea of monsters spilled out of the portal, visibly excited and growling at the same time.

There were countless Goblins, millions of Hobgoblins and Orcs, Orc Warriors clad in full plate armor, and an immense number of Shamans, creating a fiery environment as soon as they left the ring portal.

Soon Beliar saw Ogres walk out, their grotesque form making the High Elf feel sick. Even Giants, tens-of-meter-tall monstrosities walked out of the portal, but compared to its purple greatness, they appeared small and weak.

"What kind of bull-!" Beliar opened his eyes wide as the invaders continued jumping out of the portal, quickly filling the barrier.

As the monsters filled the footprint inside, the portal ring hummed and started sucking even more Qi toward it, expanding the barrier further.

Beliar was already more than thirty kilometers from the portal and was getting pushed away even further.

"Sons of bitches! Stop hiding in your shell and fight me!"

He suddenly realized how the Demon King must have felt, but instead of calming down, it enraged him further. Seeing the barrier continuing to expand without end, he took one last good look at it, before warping the space around him and disappearing from the place.

"Innos!" Beliar reappeared at the Phoenix Temple and immediately flew inside.

"What's going on?" Innos inquired.

Beliar opened his mouth to speak, but then he suddenly stopped and flipped his hand over. A white sphere materialized on top of his palm, sparkling like a diamond in the light. He moved the sphere closer to his head and a drop of white light flew from him to the sphere.

"Here, see for yourself!" Beliar tossed the sphere to Innos, who then grabbed it and closed his eyes, sending his senses inside. In no time at all, the daily events appeared in his mind from the perspective of Beliar. They shared memories.

"We are getting invaded?!" Innos opened his eyes in disbelief.

Beliar nodded with a dark expression. "It appears so, and I can't break that fucking barrier! I need someone that knows a bit more about defensive Formations, do you know anyone?"

He was in a bad mood, while Innos, on the other hand, appeared to be much calmer. "Sure, I know a guy…"

"Good!" Beliar nodded. "I'll keep an eye on the barrier! Get him to break it open, I'm itching to fight!"

The vision changed and showed a later date.

"A month. That's how much time I'll need to break it." A silver-haired old High Elf Elder stated calmly after examining the expanding barrier.

"A month?!" Beliar shouted wide-eyed. "Aren't you one of the best formation masters on the continent?!"

The old High Elf Elder chuckled, not minding his outbursts at all. "Well, in truth I only need a day, but this barrier is ever-changing. I need a month because that's when it will stop expanding and I'll finally be able to get to work." He calmly explained.

"A month…" Beliar weakly said, sounding completely defeated. He kicked the barrier in anger, but the thing didn't even budge.

Innos who was standing there shrugged his shoulders. "Since nothing can be done about it, I'll return to my studies. I'll see you in a month!"

Beliar sighed and flew to the barrier, sitting down on top of it. "That's fine… One month, I can afford to wait that much…"

"Shouldn't we just get a few more Elders and brute force this barrier apart?" The old man asked.

"No!" Beliar sternly shook his head. "I can deal with these weaklings on my own, I don't need their help! I just need you to open the barrier, nothing more!"

"Are you sure you don't need more help?"

"I'll be fine!" Beliar snapped back.

"Very well…" The old man also sat down on the barrier and took out an old book, slowly reading it.

Beliar casually glanced over and lifted his brow. "Elemental Codex? Why are you reading that book for children? And is that Wyvren leather?! Who would spend something that expensive for something so..."

Answering with a gentle voice, the man spoke. "It is indeed precious beyond compare… It reminds me of my youth, when I was still wild and full of energy, like you."

"Whatever!" Beliar scoffed and turned away. "I'll just wait this month and then break these stupid Demons to smithereens! They are so weak, I don't get why they even bother attacking us…"

However, as the vision once again changed, a month passed by, and the barrier continued to expand without any signs of stopping. Beliar felt annoyed and cursed the old man for his miscalculations.

"Shouldn't we just get some reinforcements?"

"No! I said I'll deal with them on my own! And stop reading that stupid book, you read it a thousand times already!"

He was Beliar, a traveler of the Void, a Soul Eater slayer! These beasts didn't deserve to be the shit beneath his boots, much less an enemy he would bother to acknowledge.

"…" The old High Elf remained silent, not replying to the invitation for an argument.

As another month passed by, the barrier still expanded, separating billions of monsters from the outside world, and even Beliar himself started to feel worried.

However…

"It's fine, stop looking at me like that! Even if they continue gathering, it's just a few billion of them! I can take care of them in less than a day! Easy peasy!" Truth was, he didn't feel all that confident anymore, but his pride didn't let him admit to it.

"…" The old High Elf didn’t answer.

After the third month of expansion, as Demons of Divine Rank started coming through the portal, the entirety of the Elven forces finally took notice, and so they gathered and attacked the barrier at once.

But...

As the purple walls of light collapsed, so did the peace on the continent, it was too late to prevent a disaster, and a bloody war ensued, lasting long years, and ravaging the planet.

And Beliar became the sinner, the sinner of their race, and the traitor of the world.

Gerald’s mind watched in amazement as the vision changed once more.

Streaks of lightning rent the sky asunder, and deafening thunder followed behind it.

It has been some time since the Demons invaded the land, and the soil was coated with crimson blood and ash. It was a war, a war between light and darkness, between the merciless invaders and brave souls of the invaded.

It was chaos. The end of the world.